Daily Archives: March 29, 2011

Michelle Martin grows suspicious when her friend, Katie Brashers, isn’t in attendance at school after a trip to Florida after Spring Break. The police and adult don’t see anything suspicious in Katie’s disappearance, especially considering Katie’s mother was known to have been flirtatious and people just assumed she must have run off with some man. Having lent Katie a special book given her by her grandmother however, and not having said good-bye to her friends and boyfriend, Michelle teams up with her best friend, Tami, and Katie’s boyfriend, Brad, to seek out the truth the Katie’s disappearance. Dodging a demanding mother, the threesome started their own investigation by talking to neighbours, and looking inside Katie’s house. With clues leading into one dead-end after another, Michelle is about to give up when her dog helps her find the most important clue of all and leads her into danger she doesn’t suspect and circumstances beyond what she would ever expect.

Michelle Martin was an engaging young lady whom I really enjoyed as a main character. I really liked her tenaciousness and passive/aggressiveness in trying to find clues that would lead her to find her friend Katie. I also liked her vulnerability with regards to her relationship with her mother, someone whom I really did not like, nor did I really relate to at all. It would be very difficult to deal with someone who has these unpredictable mood swings all of the time, and she handle the situations with maturity and grace. When Michelle finally stood up for herself at dinner one night, I really liked how the author handled the scene as she didn’t lower it to one of Michelle acting like a young child, but allowed Michelle to handle her mother with great aplomb and maturity. I also really liked Mr. Nichols and found him hilarious. He is one of those older people who are retired and don’t have a lot to do, but certainly tend to notice everyone around them. He would have a lot to say about life and I found him terribly interesting. My only concern with the character development is the relationship between Katie and Michelle as I didn’t really feel like there was any bonding between them, like there was a caring relationship. I felt the only reason Michelle wanted to find Katie was to get her book back and that is really no reason for someone to go to all this trouble. It created some confusion as I didn’t fully believe that Michelle’s reasons for looking for Katie were altruistic.

Dead by Midnight is the twenty-first book in the Death on Demand series. How can an author write so many books in a series and still manage to keep it all interesting and fresh? Carolyn Hart has the answer to this question and shows the reader she does all of this and more!

Dead by Midnight takes place in Broward Island where Annie lives with her husband Max. Annie runs the Death on Demand mystery bookstore. Death on Demand is not just your local bookstore. Many events take place with authors and members of the community. Annie also runs monthly contests.

Annie hires a new employee, Pat Merridew, who is an acquaintance of her friend, Henny. Pat does not know much about working in a mystery bookstore but is determined to learn and do her best. When Pat does now show up for work, Henny is upset because Annie is left with many things going on that particular day. Henny rushes to Pat’s house to tell her how upset she is about leaving Annie with no help. Much to her horror, she finds Pat dead. The police ruled the death a suicide. Annie does not believe the death is a suicide and is determined to find out the truth.

Kevin is an extremely smart student at a seminary school in California. His dean, John Francis, is one of his best friends and most cherished advisors.
Kevin in leaving the school and heading home when his cell phone rings and his is told by a raspy-voiced individual to solve a riddle to to confess his sin within three minutes or the car will blow up. Kevin has no idea what is expected of him to confess. He pulls into a Wal-Mart parking lot, away from others, and the car blows up. No one is hurt, even Kevin, but he then becomes headline fodder.

Things progress from there with another phone call with another riddle to solve and his sin to confess.
We learn slowly of Kevin’s rather abnormal childhood and the fact that he grew up with his aunt, uncle and retarded cousin after the death of his parents when he was one. We learn about Samantha (Sam) who becomes his friend, under circumstances that are not of the norm.

The FBI becomes involved in the persona of Jennifer, who has just lost her brother to murder by the “Riddle Killer”. The circumstances of Kevin’s situation and that of Jennifer’s brother, Roy, are very close in the way that they are done. Jennifer has thoughts that this may be the same person, so she is very drawn to the case. She is also very drawn to Kevin.